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K-State researchers find new tests for E. coli

(MCT) E. coli kills people sometimes, and many times costs farmers and the cattle industry millions in recalled beef or other losses.

Researchers at Kansas State University say they've found a fast new way to detect the bug at the molecular level -- and save some of that money.

They've developed a project to improve how to find pathegenic Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O157:H7, the university said in a prepared statement this week. A Department of Agriculture grant is paying for the work, the statement said.

Rapid tests they developed, not labor intensive, can detect the bacteria based on genetic sequences, a bacteria's "fingerprints," the statement said.